12/2/2023 0 Comments Earthviews geological![]() There are fatal flaws in the argument presented by the old-earth geologists who are trying to exert their authority to persuade the church to accept millions of years. That article is here: (this a short summary of a longer point-by-point rebuttal linked at the end of the second paragraph). One is an article by John Reed (PhD, geology, and a ruling elder in a Presbyterian church) in response to the old-earth views of eight fellow Reformed geologists (one of whom is Davis Young, emeritus professor of geology at Calvin College). In a future post I will show my results at creating similar views using HD lidar data, which can be downloaded from the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping, as done in this blog post on Quest.I would like to draw your attention to two new resources dealing with the age of the earth. And really you don’t need a book in your lap to start the process. ![]() As a geophysicist, sitting in the office away from the outcrops, this is invaluable, and a great aid in finding analogs in support of seismic interpretations. I found that this process of looking for and replicating the photos in the book, zooming in and out, then in again changing view was a fantastic way to see the geological features as part of the larger geological context, visualize them, see the interconnection with other elements of the landscape, observe how erosion and deposition, and human processes have modeled the landscape in just a few decades (as in the second and third examples). Another oxbow lake in the center has nearly disappeared. For example, it looks like the meander cutoff in the lower left portion of the image had ‘just’ happened in the 60s, whereas at the time the imagery used by Google Earth was acquired (I imagine in the last few years), the remnant oxbow lake is more clearly defined. ![]() Tis is priceless: 50 years are nothing in geological time scale, and yet there are already some significant differences in the two images. Looking at this was by far my favourite as it gave me the opportunity to create my own time lapse: a repeat snapshots of the same landscape nearly 50 years apart. The last view is a replica of Figure 137 in the book, showing the meander belt of the Animas River a few miles from Durango, Colorado. Notice that in the 60s, when the photo was taken by Shelton, the highway (US Highway 101 north of San Juan Capistrano, California) was the only visible evidence of human activity. The second view is a replica of Figure 135, showing many excellent examples of stream capture by headward erosion. The first view is a replica of Figure 130 in the book, showing a fantastic example of a stream (the Colorado River) deepening its valley at the Marble Canyon. This program is a fantastic tool for learning geology, and today, to reinforce the point, I want to show you a couple of examples of Google Earth views replicating almost exactly figures from Chapter 14 of Geology Illustrated: The works of streams and rivers. I already praised Google Earth for visualisation in this post. That is especially true if you combine the reading with using Google Earth (particularly if you are a visual-spatial learner) and that is exactly what I did. ![]() However, lacking access or time to go to the field, or both, I find looking at a book like this can be an extraordinary substitute. Again, the author reminds us that nothing can replace field experience, and having been trained as a field geologist (an average one, but that’s another story) I cannot but agree. And Shelton himself in the preface recommends this book as a “point of departure rather than something to lean on…” but that is perfect if you are a teacher looking for material, a first year college student, or a non-geologist looking for a high quality introduction.īut the photographs are priceless, and Shelton, who was also a pilot, took them all himself. A bit simple, but simple is not always bad. There are already reviews and plenty of praise for this book out there – no need to repeat any of that if not briefly. My take is that the geology is clear and well explained. Every time I look at, and inside the book I can’t but think those were the best 10 dollars I ever invested in books. A few years ago I bought on e-bay Geology Illustrated – by John S.
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